24 Hours Too Late
by Cara Lea
Summary: What if Yang hadn't noticed Ruby was missing until morning? What if, in fact, she'd fallen asleep? And what will happen to Ruby if she's left to the devices of Roman Torchwick for an extra 24 hours. Rated M for mature content. *TRIGGER WARNING* this is a rape-fic


So the beginning of this sucks. If you happen to like dark fics like this, then keep going, because it gets better. I happen to suck very much at translating what I see on screen to text, which is why it gets better once I start my own stuff. *TRIGGER WARNING* this is a rape-fic, and I DO describe it as it happens. Don't go on from here if you can't handle that. YES I did update this from an earlier version. This one is edited, and I will probably edit it again in the future. Best wishes and I hope you enjoy. R&R no flames.

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"Zwei, this is wasteland! You literally could have done that anywhere!"

Ruby paced breezily over to where her dog was. She was not halfway across when he raced forward to meet her. Silly dog had woken her up in the middle of a really good dream. Why? To come outside and pee on a pole.

It was kind of funny, actually.

Zwei reared up on his hind legs to put his paws on her chest. Feeling much more relieved at the lack of danger than annoyed with her pup's pee location choices, she bent down to pick him up. He let out a bark that echoed across the buildings.

"What was that?" said an unfamiliar voice from not very far away.

A thrill of apprehension filled her. Who was there? Thoroughly distracted, she scooped her dog into her arms and raced to check it out. Clutching Zwei close to her chest, she peered around the side of the building.

Two White Fang members were standing facing perpendicular to her very hiding spot. Ruby found no fear at the sight of them. After all, it wasn't like she couldn't take them.

"I thought heard a Beowulf or something," one guard was saying to the other. He whirled around, trying to look casual, but Ruby could tell he had his eyes trained for invading Grimm.

"Urgh!" the other one groaned. He sounded utterly disgusted, and it amused Ruby to hear. "Let's just finish our patrol, and get back to base." He led the way away with slow, careful footsteps. Ruby suspected he wanted to move quicker, but didn't want to look cowardly. His attempt wasn't working.

The first guard followed suit. "This place gives me the creeps," she only just heard him say.

 _Maybe I can find out where they're going!_ She thought. Dumping Zwei onto the road, she took off after them. Not wanting to be seen, she dashed quickly and quietly behind a ledge. The guards were only a few yards in front of her. She watched curiously as they rounded a corner and disappeared behind the building. With Zwei close to her tail, she raced forward until she could just peak behind the building. They had opened a metal door leading…somewhere. She withdrew to avoid one of them looking up and seeing her.

Zwei stood looking up at her, panting merrily. If the guards saw him standing there, they probably wouldn't think anything of it. There were many wild animals in Mountain Glenn anyway. They would no doubt think he was just another. "Did they go in yet?" she asked him. "One bark means yes."

She didn't need his bark to confirm, as it turned out. She could hear the door slam. He barked anyway.

Excitement coursed through her. "Oh! This is it!" she whispered to her dog hoarsely. " _This is it!_ " Although she _wanted_ to race in there and get all the answers to the puzzle that had been plaguing them all semester, she was not so stupid. Instead, she pulled out her scroll and dialed her teammates.

In record time, her scroll flashed bright red. NO SIGNAL

"Aww man!" she breathed. "Come on, we have to get the others."

Together they set off back to camp. She tried to imagine what they would say when she got there with this news. Surely her teammates would be happy. They hadn't had a single lead since they'd gotten there. The only thing they'd battled so far were Grimm. It would most certainly excite them, if not outright cheer Blake up, to realize they had found what they were looking for at last.

As things would have it, Ruby didn't get the chance to tell them anything. She and Zwei hadn't gotten more than a few yards when the ground beneath her cracked, lowering at least a foot. "Huh?" she only had time to breathe before the ground suddenly fell away from her.

Years of training quick reaction time had given Ruby good reflexes. Her left arm snapped up to grab the ground above her while her right hand clutched Zwei's scruff. Now she was in quite the bind. Should she jump down or climb up? She looked down.

The ground was very far away, too far away to even see. Instead, she found herself dangling over a black pit, her sweaty fingers gripping her dog tight. Climbing up it was.

Zwei was lightweight, but considering the angles, she'd need both arms to climb up. Ruby was not one to waste time in situations like this. So she tossed Zwei up over her head. He was a strong dog, he'd be okay.

Her free arm swung up to grip the ground. It was time to climb. Her muscles bunched as she began to pull herself up.

Without warning, the asphalt she clutched at detached from the ground and she was falling down, down… From above, she heard Zwei bark distantly.

She hit the ground hard. The impact knocked the wind out of her. Only the many hits she had taken over the years prevented her from losing her breath. Drawing in deep, steadying air, she climbed to her feet. To her right was a cliff that dropped into a breathtaking view. It wasn't a natural cavern. Instead, there were buildings, some looking like they might have once been apartments, others looked like businesses. One still had letters on the top, spelling what should have been the name if all of the letters were still present.

This was an underground city.

She whirled around as a door opened behind her. Two guards, different from the previous two, rushed in pointing their guns. "Freeze!" one yelled. Step by step, they began to approach her. Ruby was not entirely comfortable with that. No matter which way you looked at it, they couldn't want anything good from her.

"Where did she come from?"

Ruby took a step back and froze, her foot finding the edge. The guards stepped closer still. "You're a long way from home, little girl," one of them sneered, his voice sending a chill down her spine.

Backed into a cliff, facing two guards with guns, this was no time to run. She'd have to fight her way out. She reached back for Crescent Rose, only to find her hands close on empty air. She felt a spike of unease, gasping as she realized she was unarmed. She must have dropped Crescent Rose when the ground collapsed.

The guards were closer now. One reached out and caught her upper arm in his hand. "Hey!" she exclaimed angrily. His grip was light enough that she could jerk her arm out of his hand. "Hands off!" He looked surprised, as if he hadn't expected her to be as strong as she was. Ruby knew she wasn't as good a fighter without her weapon . Screwing up her courage, she threw a punch, then another, but they had no effect. The man simply batted her arms out of the way with ease. This did not bode well.

In retaliation to her punches, the man swung his arm back and hit target right in her face. It was actually pretty painful. She closed her eyes as his fist connected with her head, knocking her out of balance and back to the ground.

"The boss is gonna wanna see this," she heard him mutter. She blinked her vision clear just in time to see his boot rear back and smash into her face.

…

Yang sat at the window, looking out into the dark night. Why was she sitting here? There was nothing out there, and it wasn't like her team wouldn't be able to defend themselves in the case of a Grimm invasion. She had been having a really good dream when Ruby had woken her for her shift.

Ruby. Her sister was the only one Dr. Oobleck hadn't interrogated today. What made Ruby so special that she didn't need to be asked the same questions as the others? In fact, why had Oobleck interrogated them at all? What was he really trying to say?

His questions had made her uncomfortable. In reflection, Yang supposed she had never really asked herself those kinds of questions before. Ever since she was old enough to fight, Yang had known she would use those skills to travel Remnant. When thinking about how she would be able to afford to do that, she had been forced to think about jobs. Being a Huntress just kind of lined up with her choices.

Her eyelids drooped.

 _No_ , she thought resolutely. _I can't sleep._ She forced her eyes open to stare into the empty blackness outside the window. Her teammates needed her to be alert in case something happened. Her teammates…of course that got her thinking of one teammate in particular, which brought her dream flooding back to her. She desperately tried not to blush, but in the end, couldn't stop it. Oh well. Who was awake to see it anyway?

It really had been a good dream. She had been most disappointed when Ruby had woken her. She had only just gotten to the best part…

 _These are completely normal feelings_ , she told herself. _They don't mean anything._ But she wasn't sure she really believed that. In her mind, she could see those amber eyes flashing with reproach at discovering the truth, the disgusted look on that pale face when she learned what was going on in Yang's head. All in all, Yang was really glad her partner couldn't read her mind.

Most of the time, Yang did her best to ignore these thoughts, but in the dark, when she was alone (or as alone as she could be), she couldn't stop all those repressed feelings from rushing back to her. It was her addiction. Every night, she shivered with images, entirely made up scenarios of course. At first it was by accident, like a dream. Now it was her guilty pleasure. Her body craved those tingles that filled her when she thought about them.

She was getting better at projecting these images in her minds eye. They were always so vivid now. She could almost feel the skin on skin contact, taste the delicious emotions on her lips, see the flash of amber in her own eyes and best of all, she could practically hear the hard breathing, the low moans…

She blinked heavily.

Careful listening told her she was the only one awake. It was stupid how she could identify the object of her affection's breathing so easily, distinguish it from the others as easily as if she were alone with the girl. Deep, yet light. So quiet she almost couldn't hear it. Those sounds were her weakness. Her brain of course turned up the volume, making her shiver involuntarily as she thought of the heavy breathing once again…

Her dream came racing into her brain, filling her again and making her gasp. She closed her eyes, thinking only about those sweet, sweet touches that she wanted so badly.

Her breath evened out. A gentle snore.

She was asleep in an instant, once again entertained by less than appropriate thoughts.

…

There were loud noises pounding in her brain. It was quickly fading from a dull roar to a sharp, clear sound. Her head throbbed painfully, but even that was already fading as her aura sucked her back into reality.

She blinked opened her eyes.

No longer was she on the ledge. In fact, she was on the ground looking up at the ledge. It took almost no time for her to realize that she was actually in the underground city. The two guards were gripping her upper arms very hard. They were dragging her so she was facing backwards, her feet dragging on the ground. All around her was organized chaos. On one side people were testing out the Atlasean Paladins, using them to carry heavy crates. It was obvious that they had experience with these machines.

There was a loud bang to her left. She twisted her head to look up and saw a large building. She glanced up and saw two White Fang members. Between them was a large white object, which one of them must have dropped.

"Hey! Be careful! What are you trying to do, blow us to the moon?"

"Sorry sir," the other answered, appropriately bashful.

"Hey boss!" one of the guards called out, making Ruby jump internally. "Found something you might want to see." As he finished his sentence, he tossed Ruby forward so she was facing a boxcar attached to a train.

To her dismay, a familiar voice answered him. "Is it good or bad, Perry? Cause let me tell you, I have had a day."

The guard- Perry? –answered him in the tone of a question. "Uh, it's a little girl?"

An orange haired man leaned out of the train car, his one made-up eye staring at her. She glared back at him, not wanting to show fear.

"That," Roman Torchwick said. "Would be bad."

He jumped out of the boxcar, his boots connecting to the dusty ground with a loud thud. Slowly, he walked toward her. Ruby jumped to her feet, not wanting to be caught on the ground with her enemy in front of her. Roman sneered at her, showing gleaming white teeth. His arms rose from his side, clutching his cane in his right hand, and made contact with her shoulders forcefully. The shove not only knocked her back to the ground, but sent her flying backwards. She stared up at him in anger.

He laughed, which angered her and, although she'd rather not admit it, scared her.

"Man," he jeered. "You are _much_ more manageable without that oversized gardening tool of yours."

Adrenaline pumped through her. Her courage blazed. Even without her weapon, she wanted to fight. She leaped to her boots and charged, but Roman was quicker. He simply side stepped her attack. She didn't have time to redirect, and momentum caused her to fall to the floor.

"Oh man," Roman laughed. "You know Perry, I really did need this."

She began to pull herself to her feet when bootsteps stopped right in front of her. She glanced up. Roman's weapon was pointed right at her head, his feet a mere foot in front of her. A plan formed in her head. There was no way she could fight this, so she'd have to escape to get help. A pressure built up inside of her as she prepared her body to use her semblance.

"Tell me, how did you find this place, Red?" Roman asked, still sounding light-hearted.

She growled at him, doing her best impression of a Beowulf. Releasing that energy, she dashed around Roman and took off running. She had no idea where she was going, but anywhere was better than here. Around her, people were gasping. It seemed they were surprised by her speed. She allowed satisfaction to fill her, but didn't stop.

Suddenly a sound like a gunshot fired from behind her. She turned her head to check for stray bullets, but was surprised to find instead a grapple hook coming from Roman's own weapon almost upon her. She twisted to escape, but no luck. The hook found her shoulder and tugged, hard, pulling her to the ground. Flat on her back, Ruby was dragged back to where Roman waited for her.

He stood over her, his boots by her ears so she was looking up his legs. "I see you've got a few tricks up your sleeve! But let me make this clear," he said. His voice had changed. He no longer sounded light-hearted. Instead his voice was dark, promising rough times ahead. He leaned down until his face was only inches from hers. "We are not through here yet."

Ruby's face screwed up in anger, once again a mask to hide her fear. Her teammates were depending on her silence. She could not give in. Drawing in a deep, rattling breath, she garnered enough saliva and spit right in his face. His eyes darkened, smile vanished. Slowly, his raised his arm to his face to wipe away her spit. He didn't say a word, just got to his feet and began to walk away.

"Take her to The Room."

…

"The Room" was all white. Even the lights, brighter than any of the floodlights in the underground city, were white in color. The men who had brought her here shoved her in, causing her to lose her balance and fall _again._ They slammed the door before she had looked around.

Along the one wall was a huge mirror, that covered the entire face of the wall. In the middle of the room was a desk. She supposed this must be for interrogation. It certainly looked that way, and after all, Roman had clearly wanted to know how she'd found them. This must be the purpose of this room.

She got to her feet and turned around as the door opened again. First into the room was a faunus she didn't recognize. Behind him was Roman. His eyes gleamed maliciously and she felt a shiver of foreboding. Before she could react, the faunus fired his weapon, hitting her with a gripper attached to a cable at the end of his weapon.

She felt an electric shock run through her, causing her to jump backward. Roman took two long strides until he was right in front of her, but Ruby didn't notice. She clenched her eyes shut, screaming against her will as the shocks coursed through her, draining her.

Suddenly, a backhand had her thrown, twisting her body in midair to land facedown on the desk. The shocks stopped as the grippers came unhooked.

Two staples, large enough to hold metal together, were pushed into the desk around her wrists. For a moment, she struggled, however it was no good. She was stuck like this, bent over the desk with her back showing. She felt the edge of the wooden surface digging painfully into her hips.

Footsteps sounded as the faunus came into her point of view. He was reaching toward her. She tried to withdraw as his hand softly touched her on the base of her neck, behind her ear.

He seemed to glow, first white. Suddenly she was aware of her aura being activated, making her glow red. She watched in horror as the red bled straight up his arm, turning his aura red. As it happened, she felt totally drained. No longer was she able to hold herself up, her legs giving under pressure. The pain in her hips seemed to double. She felt the skin break on the back of her wrists as the last of her aura was drained away.

Roman watched the light of Red's aura fading away with satisfaction. The girl blinked heavily, her head collapsed onto the table. He had detected, however, the same light that usually fought with. They might have drained her aura, but there was still fight in her.

Good.

"Thank you Navine," he said with a slight jeer in his voice. "What do you think of his Semblence, Little Red? You see, his Semblence is to drain the aura out of you." He took in her feet, no longer holding her up, and the blood around the cuffs of her wrist. "Looks like it's working." Ruby lifted her head to glare at him, but he was not at all intimidated. No, he actually liked that look. It was something to work with.

"So I'll bet," he said, rearing his cane back and bringing it down, hard upon her head. It was like nothing Ruby had experienced ever before. Sure, she'd taken hits, and it wasn't like she'd never felt pain. But without her aura to protect her, it was way worse. She saw stars in her vision, screaming involuntarily against the pain.

Roman watched as a dark red mark formed on her temple from where he'd hit her. It brought a trill of excitement that tingled his very toes. He finished his thought aloud, "That had to hurt."

Even with a ripe bruise forming on her temple, Ruby still glared back up at him. This brought a knowing smile to his face. A strong want came rushing to him at the look of defiance. He wanted to be the one to get rid of it, the one to break her. A shiver ran through him at the thought. Mmm…he liked where this was going to go.

This was a delicate situation, needed to be handled with care. He didn't have opportunities like this often. It was essential to prolong the experience so he could cherish it for as long as possible.

"Navine, why don't you go stand guard," Roman said carefully. "I'll take care of this." Navine nodded obediently and headed away. Just as the faunus's hand touched the doorknob, Roman remembered. "Leave the whip."

Ruby turned her head as much as she could to look at him. Roman smirked, accepting the weapon from his comrade in arms. He watched Ruby's face as he waited for the door to slam shut. The emotions crossing her face, from guarded fear to open apprehension. He could still see her spirit, her strength. The dark bruise on her temple reminded him of the pain he could efficiently inflict now. Another shiver. _Careful_ he thought.

He walked around behind her, the feeling of dark satisfaction growing in his chest as she watched his progress with her silver eyes. "So Little Red," he repeated the question. "How _did_ you find us?"

She didn't answer verbally, but her eyes narrowed in a stronger glare. He noticed her legs were still dangling weakly. He leaned over her so his front was at her rear. Grabbing the back of her neck with his hand, he shoved her hard into the table.

"Are you sure this is the route you want to go down?" he murmured into her ear. At first she just glared at him. But another wave of excitement found his body, and he purposefully rubbed against her backside as subtly as he could. She gasped, her eyes widening with an unknown emotion as he allowed himself to touch her gently. It was only for a second, but seeing the look of confusion and anxiety on her face was well worth it.

He stood up and smirked, removing his gloves from his hand. Ruby watched, still looking uneasy. Gently, he laid his palm on her head. She winced, lowering her head to avoid his touch. As soft as he could, he trailed his fingers down her spine. The most peculiar look crossed her face as he touched her.

About the small of her back, he stopped. Watching her face in the mirror, he dug his fingers into the back of her dress and ripped it apart until her bare back as showing.

"Hey!" she exclaimed, struggling against the bind that held her down. Weak as she was, it had almost no effect. But there was one. Gleefulness coursed threw him straight into his lower abdomen.

He wanted to take her right there. He wanted to see the look on her face as he tore into her. The mere thought of it was enough to make his stomach flutter with anticipation. _Slow down_ , he thought to himself. _Don't rush this._ There was still fight in her, after all. He'd have to squash that to make this night perfect.

He placed his palm smoothly on her back. It took massive effort to keep himself from doing anything more. Once he was sure he had control of himself, he pushed hard against her spine, forcing her to lie flat against the table.

"Tell me how you knew to be here," he demanded, leaning into her.

Shakily, the girl lifted her head to glare at him in the mirror. "No," she gasped, defiant despite the pressure on her body.

Another smirk. He withdrew, and she immediately drew herself up again, her legs taking her weight. He chucked. The little idiot didn't even know she was giving him exactly what he wanted.

Slowly he picked up the weapon. One click of a side button revealed the long tethers tied to it. Ruby stared at it with wide eyes. It was clear that despite the obvious fear now, she still had no idea what was coming.

He raised the flogger and brought it down. The sharp strings cut into her back, spattering blood all around. Ruby's reaction was most invigorating. Every single muscle it seemed contracted against the pain. Her feet curled up with her knees against the bottom side of the desk, her back arched as she attempted to pull herself up into a fetal position. It was useless thought, restrained and powerless as she was.

The sight of her reaction, combined with her high pitched shriek of pain was incredibly arousing. It bubbled over involuntarily, making him gasp. Just to give himself something to do to distract himself from that feeling, he brought the whip down again, and again. Delight filled him at the sound of her screams. In that moment, he didn't care who heard them. At that moment, all he knew was the two of them. He paused in his attacks, sweat dripping down his side. Delicately, he put the instrument of torture on the desk and removed his outer layers until he was standing shirtless. Ruby was still moving, her muscles twitching as she processed the blatant torture she was experiencing.

"Who came with you?" he asked. He wasn't sure what made him say that, but her reaction was profound. Her eyes opened, her mouth twitched.

"I c-came alo-lone…" she stuttered. He didn't believe her in an instant.

"Don't lie to me," he growled, pointing Melodic Cudgel at her hand and firing. The blast cut a hole into her hand, sending chunks of skin flying. Ruby screamed louder than before, trying to draw her hand in and unable to because of the staple.

He leaned over her from behind, his bare chest touching her wounded back. She looked at his reflection in horror as his mouth came right up against her ear. Lust was beginning to build inside him, nearing it's breaking point. _So close_ …

"What do you know?" he breathed heavily.

"No-nothing!" she stammered, clear dread spelled out in her looks. There was still some fight in her…

He bit her ear, causing her to cry out again. Gradually, he drew back until he was standing behind her, propping himself against the table with his arms.

"Where are your friends?" he asked. "Is kitty with you?"

"No!" she shouted, almost too quickly. He could see rising panic in her face. There was another pulse of energy to his lower abdomen.

His shoes clicked as he paced around in front of her. He knelt, his knees coming to rest in a tiny splotch of blood on the ground. Her eyes were wide, but distinctly distant. Gently, he cupped her cheek in his palm, smudging her cheekbone with her own blood off his thumb. He leaned forward until his lips met hers. She recoiled at his touch, but with nowhere to go, she couldn't totally away. He brought his teeth together into her lip. He could taste the blood dripping down his throat, so beautiful.

"Don't you know, Little Red," he breathed seductively in her face. She winced, turning her head away. He gripped her by her hair, pulling her back to face him. "You're mine now."

Drawing up courage, Ruby took as deep a breath she could and spat a huge wad of blood and spit in his face. Anger clouded Roman's vision. Gripping her hair ever tighter, he brought her head down against the edge of the desk with an almighty _whack_!

"You don't have the luxury of making stupid moves like that one," he growled as he rose to his feet. Ruby blinked up at him, her eyes out of focus, a line of fresh blood dribbling down from her fresh head wound. "Tell me what you know," he ordered darkly.

"I ont know athing," she slurred, trying desperately to get her eyes to focus.

The sight of her, mutilated probably beyond repair, trying to overcome a concussion and unable to articulate a sentence was enough to drive anyone with his caliber psychopathy straight over the edge.

He leaned down until he was nearly touching her bloody back. The coppery smell was much enticing. Deliberately, he leaned down and drew his tongue over her wound. Underneath him, Ruby convulsed as though she wanted to rid him from her. It was so _perfect_ …

Hew drew his hand down her bottom. His fingers found the rim of her pants. Slowly, while he continued to kiss her mutilated back, his fingers meandered down, down. He could feel her bare buttocks in his palm.

"What are you doing?" Ruby squealed, the adrenaline from the fear awakening her from her confusion. He drew his fingers down, probing his new battle ground until he found what he was looking for. Inside, gently now…

Underneath him, Ruby bucked, trying to kick him with her leaden feet and pull herself away from him at the same time. It was no use. She was still feeble from the recent head wound she'd taken, not to mention her aura hadn't had time to build up yet. All she did was make him more excited, his breath coming faster.

"Ooh," he said aloud, just to see the look on her face. "A virgin."

In a flash, he managed to get her pants down, exposing her to the world. She hadn't shaved in a while, but the sense of living in the wild for some time only brought out the more feral side of Roman.

He wanted. Now.

Before he knew it, his pants were down and he had found his target. He hardly noticed the girl underneath him struggling. Sweet sweet relief. He moaned with pure pleasure at the blind panic in her eyes. Her shrieks, louder and stronger than before were the most erotic thing he'd ever heard.

He gave a sharp thrust. Her reaction was everything he needed and more. Her voice was already wearing from the screeches, but this was a whole new level of sound. She wailed so loud her voice cut off. One of the vessels in her eye burst. She saw red.

It was the best feeling the world. Perfection in one little girl. He lost track of time. All he knew was that after a while, the girl underneath him stopped moving. He kept going anyway, continuing to put all his weight into each and every movement of his.

Ruby's head hit the table, as if she'd passed out. No no that wouldn't do. He wanted to see the light die from her eyes. He leaned down, his bare chest touching her wounded back again. He brushed her wounded hand with is own. "Come on Red…" he cooed into her ear. He saw her arm twitch.

Closer now. He was almost done. He just needed…Not getting the reaction he wanted from his talking, he decided to take things to a much more practical manner. Panting now as he came ever closer to his peak, he reached out and tugged hard on her hair. "Yes," he breathed without meaning to, looking into those fathomless pits. He saw a flicker in her eyes. The light in them was slowly dying.

Just a little more…Just a little- oh! Plain bliss obscured his vision not before he saw a dullness enter her that Ruby had never shown before. He was only just aware of his long, loud moan as he gave one final thrust and finished.

He stepped back, pulling his pants up with ease. His fingers and toes tingled. A wave of dizziness passed over him. That had been…the _best_ night he'd ever had. He didn't look at the girl as he put his clothes on. Now that he had gotten what he'd wanted, he didn't really care about her. In fact, seeing her without her fight in her disgusted him.

 _Weakling_ , he thought. "Until next time, Red," he said. Without a further glance at her, he turned and left the room.

…

Yang awoke with a start. Something wasn't right. Daylight was streaming in through the opening, slanted with the morning but prominent enough to tell her she'd been asleep a long time.

"Oh no," she yawned. "Weiss, it's your- " She froze, turning around and seeing two sleeping figures, which was one short of her expectations. "Where's Ruby?"

Zwei was missing too, she realized. No sooner had the thought crossed her head that her dog came running in. "Zwei?" she asked, feeling apprehensive. Oobleck rounded the corner from where he'd been sleeping, staring down at the dog.

"What's going on?" Blake asked. Yang allowed just the sound of her partner's voice to comfort her.

Finally the professor looked up. "Ready yourselves," he said, sounding grim. "You're leader may be in danger."

…

Ruby had no idea how long she laid there. It could have been minutes, it could have been hours. It was long enough that her aura began to regain strength. She could feel it healing her now, patching together the hole in her hand and stopping the blood flow from her back and head. It tingled inside her as it healed the damage that Roman had done to her fragile body. The sensation made her want to throw up.

As her body began to heal, she began to awaken more. Even so, she couldn't bring herself to move. She almost wished that it would stop, so she could let her weak mind taper away with without any thought. Now, with her power returning, stabled to this desk where she was forced to look at herself in the mirror, thinking was all she could do.

Her reflection did not lie to her. She had looked better in her lifetime. There was a thin line on her head from where it had made contact with the surface of the desk. It would be gone within another hour (if she could figure out how long that was). The bruise on her temple was almost entirely gone, but her hand…she doubted she'd escape that without a scar. She couldn't see her back, but could feel in detail the grotesque cuts that were deep enough her aura couldn't heal it right away. Her pants were still down, skirt still up. Try as she might not to think about it, Ruby couldn't stop her eyes from following the progression of blood trails down her legs. _They're from my back_ she told herself. But her back had long since stopped bleeding.

She felt a sharp pain from within. It was just her aura patching her back up, but it brought with it the memory of what she had just endured. Roman hadn't wanted to interrogate her after all. He hadn't wanted something much worse from her. Her face screwed up, tears stinging her eyes. She pounded her head against the desk repeatedly, trying to get the feelings, the memories, straight from her head. Her aura could heal her physical injuries, but there was no medicine strong enough to spare her the thoughts in her head.

This was all her fault. She should have woken her teammates as soon as she'd seen those other White Fang members. Then she wouldn't have fallen and gotten herself in this mess. If only she had kept a tighter hold on Crescent Rose, then she could have fought her way out of this. Shame filled her. Why hadn't she taken hand to hand combat more seriously? She could have stopped all of this from happening.

The door opened from behind her and she looked up in panic. Was he coming back for more? No. It was two members from the White Fang. This did not alleviate her worries though. Here she was, skirt up, pants down, pinned down to the table. Embarrassment added to the slue of emotions she felt.

Nausea made her nearly choke. What if they were going to hurt her the way _he_ had?

"She sure is sweet," one of them muttered. "I'd like to have me some of that."

"She's a human," the other responded, sounding disgusted. "Besides, we have our orders."

Without further ado, they gave a hard tug on the staples, pulling her free. She slid back, trying to land on her feet. However, it seemed her legs still couldn't take her weight. Her knees buckled and she collapsed onto the ground, her bare bottom getting covered in dirt.

One of them bent down. His hand clasped her upper arm. He had quite the strong grip. He gave a small pull and she was on her feet. Quick as a dime, she pulled her pants up and patted her skirt down, thoroughly covering herself up. The protection of clothes over her bleeding legs was relieving. She felt as though she gained something back, some strength that she couldn't get from aura.

"Move it!" the second guard said, giving her a shove. She almost fell down again. Her legs felt like jelly. Where had her bones gone? Why couldn't she walk properly?

After a few steps though, things began to ease out. She found it was easier once she'd moved a little bit to get her feet in the right places and keep herself upright. It was less than graceful, but there you go.

They rounded the corner and she froze. There _he_ was, waiting for her. Her hands began to shake, but she didn't notice. All she knew as fear. What did _he_ want from her now? She took a step backward, straight into the chest of one of her guards. This couldn't be happening. The guard shoved her forward, toward _him_ again. Ruby felt herself heave, sure that if she had eaten anything of substance in the last twenty-four hours she would have thrown up everywhere. As for Roman...he smirked at her and went to take a step forward, closer to her.

There was an earth shattering boom. The ground shook.

"What was that?" Roman asked, looking around. The guard holding Ruby shrugged. "Do you mind taking care of that?" he continued, raising his weapon to point straight at Ruby. "I'm kind of in the middle of something here."

The guard released Ruby and took a single step.

Another boom, this one closer. The ground shook again, making Ruby almost lose her balance and fall forward. Roman, however, turned around to face the noise. "What on earth is going on?" he bellowed.

Up in the distance, faunus were running, racing away from whatever it was that was causing the explosions. Ruby narrowed her eyes, hoping against hope it was what she thought it was.

It was. Around the corner they came, lead by Zwei and Oobleck. Yang was with them. A range of emotions flared up inside her, filling the emptiness that had taken hold since her night with Roman. Now she was filled with a purpose. She had to get to her teammates.

Screwing up her courage, she took a flying leap. Knocking Roman straight out of the way was satisfying, if a little nerve-wracking. Although she didn't make skin on skin contact, just the brush up against him was enough to make her innards ache. All of the anger and resentment built up in her after her night came forth and she shoved him away. He fell to the ground and she kept going.

"Somebody kill her!" she heard him shout, but didn't stop. There was Yang. She had to get to Yang.

The stretch to her sister felt like forever. Gunfire surrounded her. A small crater exploded beside her, but she didn't care. All she could think about was her sister.

Finally, at last, she threw herself into her sister's outstretched arms. Before she could stop herself, she was on her knees, tears pouring down her face. "Sister," she said repeatedly. "Oh sister thank you."

"Ruby," Yang said, sounding concerned. "What happened to you? Are you okay?"

What happened to her? Ruby began to talk without meaning to. "I- no! He-" but she couldn't bring herself to say what exactly had transpired the night before. As luck would have it, she didn't have to.

"Oh my goodness," Oobleck's voice sounded. Ruby bent her head in shame as her teammates looked down upon her not yet healed back.

There was a moment of silence as the group processed what they were looking at. It lasted only a second. "He did this to you?" Weiss's voice asked in a hush.

"Yeah, he- " Ruby wiped tears from her face. "He wanted to know where you all were. I wouldn't tell him."

Ruby found she couldn't bare to look at her teammates. Good thing they couldn't see every scar she'd have… It was unbearable to think that they could all see her like this. Ruby, their leader, mutilated and damaged beyond repair. It made her thoroughly glad that they couldn't read her mind. She didn't think she could bear them knowing that moment, her greatest shame.

She felt Yang's body temperature rise with her anger. From her other side, she heard Blake say in a stone cold voice, "I'll kill him."

"No, he's mine!" Yang responded, her eyes flashing red.

Beside them, the train started to move. It seemed that in the face of several skilled fighters, Roman had decided it would be best to pull out. "Guys!" Ruby suddenly remembered. "They have weapons on that train! Big paladins and stuff like that!"

"What are we going to do?" Weiss asked as Ruby pulled herself together.

Taking deep breaths, she pulled herself to her feet. Blake handed her Crescent Rose, from which she drew comfort. Now she was armed, and Roman was on the run from her group. "There's only one thing to do," she said, forcing herself back into her role as leader. She couldn't afford to go to pieces right now. They had a mission ahead of them. "We have to stop that train."


End file.
